DN Meets... Pete Williams.

Pete Williams became the latest Data Leader to meet with Data Ninjas, in a compelling interview that saw him discuss what he believes the role of Chief Data Officer looks like, where it is necessary to have one, and also talks us through his own career, that saw him become a pioneer for the implementation data strategies at some of the UK's most prestigious retailers:

Pete after a long and successful career working for some of the great British retailers, you are now referring to yourself as a ‘Data Evangelist’. What does that involve spending your days doing?

It’s the belief that any decision can be made better, by which I mean faster and of higher quality, by giving the right information, at the right time, with the right level on granularity and through the right channel. That information is generated from data. If you give that capability to anyone in any environment, then at that point they can make the best decision possible, usually for the growth of the company, and start to act on it immediately. The evangelism part comes from the passion and leadership energy to share that data driven belief with others and help them on the same journey.

A typical example from my retail background might be the Monday morning meeting where you assess last week’s trade, which always raises a series of issues. The board sends someone away to investigate those, and they might bring the answer back in 2 weeks time, but by that time the opportunity to act has gone because the market has shifted. What you’ve really done is waste two weeks of effort and opportunity. You need to be able to make an informed decision at the time and in the room so that you can take advantage of any situation in play.

Do you find that it is mostly retail professionals that are reaching out to you to lean on your expertise in this role?

No not at all, which I am very pleased about. Although I have a CV full of premium British retailers, the ability to make a better decision using data applies to any industry. I’m finding people are approaching me from the Fintech and Banking world, Insurance, Gaming, FMCG, which proves the ability to do this comes from anyone who needs to make a decision. It hasn’t been retail specific, if anything retail has been the minority.

And how has it been for you reaching into industries other than retail?

Probably the biggest challenge is finding out where those people are. Most opportunities tend to arise via networking or at events. Fortunately there are plenty of these forums springing up. The challenge is often around an approach based on the role I’ve been performing, that of Chief Data Officer. Because it is such a new role in the market a lot of people don’t understand what that is. The events help because if I sent an introductory letter or even a CV most people would look at it and not know what I do, or what it meant. Because it’s data related they might think it’s a technical function, part of the CIO’s remit, and to do that would be wrong in my experience. Alternatively, they might think it’s all about compliance and GDPR, but I think to attach it solely to that current regulatory focus really runs the risk of missing out on opportunities to use the data for commercial growth and competitive advantage.

Why do you think it still is the case that people don’t know what a CDO can offer their business or perhaps even understand the role a CDO performs? Is there still that lack of understanding perhaps at stakeholder level?

I know there is! It is proven to me almost every time I have a conversation that people don’t know what it is. The other confusion is that CDO can also be ‘Chief Digital Officer’ which has been the hot role for 5 or 6 years, but ‘Chief Data Officer’ is the current vogue and has been for about 18 months now. The role has started to gather momentum, but people still think data is a subset of technology so they don’t know why a role would ever have responsibility for doing something with data. Also, because many of us in this small community meet quite often, I think we all bring back stories that show there still is that lack of understanding about what a CDO can bring to a company. The more education we can give about the potential, the more roles we can help create and the increased standardisation we can therefore structure about the role will hopefully generate more opportunities to deliver benefit and growth to more organisations.

That’s why in the last 3 months, a number of books have been published which have generated momentum and helped businesses better understand this crucial role.

So do you recall a point where the CDO became the Chief Data Officer and the industry does need this level of role within it?

I think so. My experiences of actively bringing data to life in an organisation stem from around 2012, when there was no title for doing so. It might have been Head of Analytics, BI Manager or something but certainly no CDO role around. Maybe a few of us became mavericks for the industry, we were doing things with data and it was really exciting to be a part of. Over time, I’ve started to see the language change, coming out of impactful events like the Gartner conferences. It moved from creating a BICC, which is a very IT centric concept, and started moving more towards an analyst community inside the business, connecting through data, through aspiration and curiosity, and helping the commercial business understand what you can do with deeper insight. The analyst community is different to the BICC because it allows data to be an inclusive, integral part of the decision making process, part of the business team and brings a unique skillset to that discussion which is to drive a decision through data.

Chief Data Officer appeared and started to gain momentum about 18-24 months ago and was given a spur when people noticed the upcoming GDPR regulations. It had data in the title and was going to be a big problem/opportunity depending on how you viewed it. I think that legislation and the momentum that grew from it has given people the need to put focus on data. Companies are scrambling around trying to find people to do this and I think that is what’s contributed to the hype of the Chief Data Officer. As I said before though, I think that’s the wrong background for an effective CDO.

What advice would you give to an organisation who is maybe wondering whether a CDO is someone they should be looking at employing?

If you don’t have a data credible leader or your CEO doesn’t understand data enough to leverage the opportunities, then you need a CDO in your organization. They can help give that knowledge to your CEO to show how you can use data and the change leadership to help bring it about.

You need to understand your business, your employees, your customer and how to structure your business around each person that is trying to consume from it. Through data opportunities every business is now better enabled in these areas than those that went before, technology has caught up with desire for insight. In 2018 there is almost no excuse for a company not to be taking advantage of the opportunities to drive growth through data.

To help determine if a CDO would offer benefit without starting by hiring one there are now opportunities to consult experienced practitioners through services such as the CDO HUB.

Do you foresee that the hype around hiring a CDO, or what it means to be a CDO, will actually end up contributing to diluting what it means to be a ‘true’ CDO?

I think it could. Hiring a CDO is a high-profile step. But it doesn’t guarantee success.

An organisation must be ready to invest financial and emotional capital in using data. There are policies and processes to optimize around the use of data. There are specialist roles to make that happen. There’s a culture change to want to accept and value data. There’s a wave of optimism that comes from communicating the opportunities that must be carefully balanced against a wave of exaggerated expectations.

If the organisation isn’t following through and backing the changes recommended by the CDO then they are unlikely to be successful. Who does the stigma of failure then stay with?

The other danger at the moment the focus is on compliance and structure that’s partly driving the CDO conversation. This is a long overdue and necessary focus but if the only focus is protection of the organisation, you’ll miss the opportunity the CDO presents to drive efficiency and growth. Take a look at the recent book “The Chief Data Officers Playbook” by Caroline Carruthers and Peter Jackson. They talk of the first, second and third generation CDO. Each step of this maturity curve is represented by increasing value add beyond compliance. If we never get beyond the first generation then the role will never become a C-Suite essential.

We need a few hero CDOs we can start to talk about so this becomes a mainstream conversation about the maturity path of the role.

So giving an example to that question, what is the better circumstance as a true CDO: A) A company hires a CDO, has all the data, but has no idea what to do with it. Or B) Has no data yet, but knows what question they want answered with it?

I just think they are different stages of the maturity curve. I think how you would choose between those, would be the person you are working for. In your second example, if the CEO has a strong vision for the potential of data but doesn’t know how to do it, then I think that is an exciting place to work for the CDO because what you really need is buy in and sponsorship. You’re also starting from scratch so can create an agile and well-structured data lake to fish in.

The first option won’t be easy, it might not look like your adding value any value anytime soon because someone needs to go through all the data organisation, so you might not get the instant impact you would like. The CEO will need to change the corporate culture, throw away the paper, and instead drill into their visible decision-making process, and demonstrate as a visible figurehead how they are now using data so the rest of the business follows suit. So, I think the way you choose is to pick the one who gives you the opportunity to do the best job with your skill set. Both are great opportunities for different types of CDO.

You mentioned we could use some heroes, do you think we have anyone being that right now in the CDO world?

There are 3 heroes I can think of at the moment.

I mentioned two of them earlier. They’ve just released a book together. Caroline Carruthers and Peter Jackson are authors of the ‘The Chief Data Officers Playbook’, bringing together impactful data careers to share their knowledge with aspiring CDOs and boards wondering why they need to appoint one.

I think the other is Andy Day, a fairly recent appointment as CDO at Sainsbury’s. His appointment was met with great fan fare, within the industry and within retail. Andy talks about using data from field to fork, the whole product journey at Sainsbury’s. His appointment was a UK shockwave, which is exciting for the data industry and I look forward to hearing his successes.

How much involvement do you have with DataIQ, and what comes with being in that Power 10?

It is an enormous privilege. I have been involved in the DataIQ top 100 for 2 years now, the first year I was in the Top 100 given the Data Titan title for steering a major retailer to become data driven. Making it into the Top 10 this year was a great privilege, to share the front page with people like Andy Day and Elizabeth Denham. It has given me a place in the industry, that lets me talk with some level of demonstrable authority, people come to me about the CDO scene based on that award and the fact I am published in that article. It gives me an invitation to conversations that perhaps I wouldn’t have the opportunity to join before.

I was also ranked in the Information Age Top 50. I won the award for B2C use of data 2016 and I think as many opportunities have come from that one as the DataIQ one. I was lucky enough to be on the Information Age judging panel last year where I got to see all of the different use cases, and fresh people coming through the industry with a chance to assess what they are trying to do.

Looking back on your own career, could you pinpoint a personal highlight?

When people ask me this I find it very hard to pull out a specific project that gained x percent growth. I feel I’ve been a data leader, so my challenge has been creating an environment where data could be a success and through it allowing such projects to happen. The highlight for me is my time at M&S and the lessons I learnt while inspiring and generating a data driven culture. Helping a great company join conversations and decisions across departments through data. Seeing the perception of analysts change from from Excel jockey to key influencer when equipped with data, tools and training to merge with their commercial knowledge. It was wildly exciting to be at the front of such an industry leading venture and is what I’m most proud of.

What were the key challenges you found when trying to drive that new culture in a business?

One is the ability to initiate disruption by driving a new conversation, challenging the status quo with a different set of experiences and expectations. An important element when doing so is the ability to communicate with credibility, conviction and passion. When you’re a change agent you need energy and a lot of patience to present your story to the many people who’ll need convincing.

Another is to find and celebrate the people making a success within the new culture. I like the story by Chip and Dan Heath in their book “Switch” of the Elephant, the Rider and the Path. It goes to the heart of making it easy for the new culture to succeed by clearing the path for the route you want to drive, motivating the energy (the elephant) and providing clear direction (the rider).

A final lesson is to find the correct champion for the transformation. In this case data is often seized by the IT function. But the use of data to drive growth is a commercial opportunity driven by a culture of questioning curiosity, not by technology which is an enabler but not the driver.